Gerard Smith (musician)
Encyclopedia
Gerard Smith was an American visual artist, musician, and member of the celebrated Brooklyn
-based band TV on the Radio
. He recorded an album of original music as A Rose Parade with Shannon Funchess of Light Asylum and also produced music with Midnight Masses. He died at age 36 from lung cancer
. Smith is survived by a young son Julian.
A talented, self-taught musician who played the piano, bass, organ, classical guitar and sitar, he studied fine arts and Art History at FIT and SUNY Purchase.
Smith was busking
in a Brooklyn
subway when he was recruited by TV on the Radio's
Tunde Adebimpe
in 2003. Smith recalled in an interview:
Smith played on the critically acclaimed albums Return to Cookie Mountain
, Dear Science
, and Nine Types of Light
.
Aside from writing music and playing bass and keyboards in TV on the Radio
, Smith, along with Adebimpe
, composed the score for the 2010 documentary feature The Lottery
, about public education from the perspective of Harlem Success Academy's
annual intake lottery.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
-based band TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
. He recorded an album of original music as A Rose Parade with Shannon Funchess of Light Asylum and also produced music with Midnight Masses. He died at age 36 from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
. Smith is survived by a young son Julian.
A talented, self-taught musician who played the piano, bass, organ, classical guitar and sitar, he studied fine arts and Art History at FIT and SUNY Purchase.
Smith was busking
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
in a Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
subway when he was recruited by TV on the Radio's
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
Tunde Adebimpe
Tunde Adebimpe
Babatunde Omoroga "Tunde" Adebimpe is an American musician, actor, and director best known as the lead singer of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio. His vocal method often involves improvisation, the use of effects and repeating sampled loops....
in 2003. Smith recalled in an interview:
I saw Tunde in the movie Jump Tomorrow
Jump TomorrowJump Tomorrow is a 2001 independent film and romantic comedy written and directed by Joel Hopkins, starring Tunde Adebimpe, Hippolyte Girardot, and Natalia Verbeke. It concerns George , a shy, bespectacled man who is about to marry a fellow Nigerian American woman named Sophie Ochenado, played by...
on IFC. And I was super addicted to film at that time. A year later, I was playing on the subway platform here, at the Bedford stop, and he kept giving me money. And then I was like, I recognize this guy. Then it finally clicked, and I said, 'Dude you were in that movie! I loved that movie!' That film had meant a lot to me, especially because there was a black actor that wasn't in the ghetto, and there weren't a lot of politics. He was being a human being and not only a black actor. And that meant a lot to me.
Smith played on the critically acclaimed albums Return to Cookie Mountain
Return to Cookie Mountain
Return to Cookie Mountain is the second studio album by American art rock group TV on the Radio. It was released July 6, 2006 worldwide by 4AD, and issued in the U.S. and Canada on September 12, 2006 by Interscope Records and Touch and Go Recordings. However, an unmastered version of the album...
, Dear Science
Dear Science
Dear Science is the third album by American art rock band TV on the Radio. It was released via Interscope Records in the United States, Touch and Go Records on iTunes and was licensed through 4AD in Europe and all remaining territories. Despite the marketed release date of September 22–23, the...
, and Nine Types of Light
Nine Types of Light
Nine Types of Light is the fourth studio album by American art rock band TV on the Radio, released on April 11, 2011. The band released "Will Do", a song from the album, on February 23. Another song, "Caffeinated Consciousness", was made available for free download on March 10, 2011...
.
Aside from writing music and playing bass and keyboards in TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
, Smith, along with Adebimpe
Tunde Adebimpe
Babatunde Omoroga "Tunde" Adebimpe is an American musician, actor, and director best known as the lead singer of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio. His vocal method often involves improvisation, the use of effects and repeating sampled loops....
, composed the score for the 2010 documentary feature The Lottery
The Lottery (2010 film)
The Lottery is a 2010 documentary film about the controversy surrounding public and charter schools in the United States, directed by Madeleine Sackler. The film was produced by Blake Ashman-Kipervaser, James Lawler, and Madeleine Sackler...
, about public education from the perspective of Harlem Success Academy's
Harlem Success Academy
Harlem Success Academy Charter School is the foundation of Success Charter Network, Inc. Its students, most of them starting with disadvantages, have been consistently achieving some of the highest test scores in the state...
annual intake lottery.